County employees should be taken care of in next budget

Monday

Jan 20, 2014 at 12:01 AMJan 20, 2014 at 1:17 PM

After reading the article about Mr. Tim Sutton’s bid for another re-election and Mr. Collis’s letter, I felt a need for this letter.

I guess Mr. Sutton can pat himself on the back about his reign as a county commissioner for Alamance County, but I think all things should be considered. As a taxpayer of this county, I too don’t like paying higher taxes, but with all things going up, how can department heads keep “holding the line” each year or doing without again and again? The Sheriff’s Office needs new cars, EMS needs new ambulances . . . these seem to be the headlines over the past few years. Some of the buildings in this county that the employees must work in every day need to be replaced. Mr. Sutton thought it was a good idea to purchase an old school building for future use? Now sits a vacant lot that was purchased for $500,000, after the building had to be torn down, all with taxpayer money. He wants to reduce or do away with employees’ benefits, take away longevity pay, sounds like to me he is wanting to balance the budget on the employees’ backs. Mr. Sutton, you should talk to some county employees sometime, the morale is poor due to low pay and poor benefits. The last I knew, there are no lines of people wanting jobs in county government!

Now I hear talk of reducing the tax rate again because “things are getting better,” so instead of keeping the tax rate the way it is, they want to reduce it again? I vote to keep it the way it is and give the employees raises, and have some departments purchase equipment and supplies that they have done without over the last few years.

Mr. Sutton, maybe it’s time for you to step down, get in some new people that are willing to listen and maybe help break up this “good old boys politics”! Maybe then some of these 25 percent raises can be put to good use for the whole county, not just one person!